Grant Fraud

The United States provides both grants and subsidies in a number of areas, including:

Agriculture
Education
Housing
Research
Small Business Advancement
Transportation
and many others.

Some examples include: subsidies to agricultural companies to develop and/or sell certain products; grants given to schools to perform research; and subsidies, grants, or preferential pricing given to small or minority owned businesses.

Additionally, the United States insures programs that operate to advance these and other interests. For example, the Fair Housing Administration insures some mortgages underwritten by private lenders. Similarly, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) often contracts with private companies to provide disaster relief.

Not surprisingly, each of these areas is rife with abuse. Some common methods by which companies defraud the government include:

Double-dipping: it is permissible for a company to seek grants from multiple agencies, but it is typically impermissible for a company to receive grants from different agencies for the exact same work. Nevertheless, some companies or individuals do precisely this.

Insurance fraud: submitting claims for reimbursement for losses that either did not actually occur, or that were ineligible for insurance coverage.

Claiming to be eligible for a grant or subsidy when the company is not (for example, by claiming to be a small or minority-owned business when this is not really the case).

Violating the terms of a subsidy by selling a product that is either not eligible for subsidization or is being sold in a manner or location which violates the terms of the subsidy.

Additionally, many of the abuses described on our government contractor fraud page also occur with respect to grants, subsidies, and insurance payments.

If you have specific information related to the above-mentioned wrongdoings or similar fraud, contact us and we will analyze your case and provide step-by-step assistance with filing a whistleblower claim to stop the fraud.